"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast."
-Ephesians 2:8-9
I went to a Chris Tomlin concert last Friday and I was really blessed through the experience. It was awesome to be in the presence of God and so many fellow Christians. In the middle of the concert, Louie Giglio gave a sermon on the parables of the lost sheep, coin and son. I've heard these stories countless times in my life, but every time I feel that I learn something new through the parables. One thing that really stuck out this time was the idea that our works do not save us.
If you have been a Christian as long as I have, you've heard this many, many times. However, while hearing the message by Pastor Giglio I realized that this idea is easy to forget and hard to employ. In the story of the lost son or "Prodigal Son" (Luke 15:11-32), a son squanders his father's inheritance through wild living. This should have made his father despise him and reject him, but as the son approaches his father to repent and become a hired worker. The father sees him coming from a distance and runs to him, which was considered a disgrace for a man in those times. The father knew his son dishonored his family's name, but he chose to run and embrace his son. After the son is brought home, the father throws a party for him.
Now this may sound like a feel-good story, but this parable probably confused and angered the listeners. Why would a father embrace his son after his son disgraced him? The other son in the story probably embodies the listeners well. The older son is infuriated at the party the father threw for his lost son, and demands an explanation. When the father tells him that his son was lost and now is found, was dead and is now alive, the older son responds in anger. The older son reminds the father that he was the one who slaved for the father and got nothing for it, but the younger son did shameful acts and got a party. While the older son's reaction is very understandable, it revealed that he did not know his father's heart.
If I were to compare myself to either of the two sons, I would say I'm more like the older son. I do have similar qualities to the younger son, but I have been a Christian for so long I believe I reflect the older son's qualities more. The older son doesn't realize that it isn't by working hard that earns the father's love. The father already loves him and wants the best for him. The older son thinks that because he works hard, he deserves something from the father. What he doesn't know is that the father is always with him and all the older son had to do was ask for anything, and the father would have given it to him.
While I know that people aren't saved through their works, I still try to earn God's approval through my works. I always question what I have to do in order to experience more of God, expecting some kind of work I have to do. What I forget is that I am already with the Father, and all I have to do is ask. It sounds very simple and unrealistic, but Louie Giglio said something very interesting in his message that struck me; "If you don't think you have a good testimony, you don't know the gospel". I always felt that my testimony was not too spectacular, so when I heard him say that it opened my eyes a little bit. The reason it is so "simple" to be with God and earn salvation is because it really wasn't simple at all. Christ had to suffer and die for us to be saved; He did all the work for us. He tore the veil that separated us from God, and that is why we only need faith to be saved. Christ did all the work that we could never do, so that we could live a life with Christ.
As the verse in the very beginning of this post says, we have been saved by grace, not by our works. It is God who did everything to save us, so we just need to have faith and accept him. "I once was lost, but now I'm found; was blind but now I see (Amazing Grace)."
-Smart
Parents
"But as many as have received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God..."
-John 1:12
The older I become, the more I appreciate the impact my parents made and continue to make in my life. Even though I am in college and am an "adult", I still need my parents everyday. I don't have a job, so I have to rely on my parents for money. Money isn't the only thing my parents helped me with though. My parents have done so much for me that there is no way I could repay them fully. My parents know this, but they chose to love me and raise me anyway.
Let's start from the beginning of my life. When I was born, my mother had to grow through incredible pain just to give birth to me. She also gave birth to my two brothers, so she had to give birth to three babies. My parents then had to carry me, change my diaper, wake up in the middle of the night when I cried, feed me, bathe me, etc. What did I do to help my parents at this time? Nothing. I was a baby, so I couldn't do anything to help my parents with anything at all. All I did was cry, eat, and sleep.
As I got older, my parents had to teach me many things, like how to speak, read, and write. They also had to teach me what is right and what is wrong. Whenever I did something bad and they found out, they had to discipline me. Without them I would have the same view on what is right and wrong today. Also, they had to pay for my school for field trips, various school fees, and church trips. By this time, I could sort of take care of myself, so my parents didn't have to watch me all the time, but I still needed them.
Today I still need my parents for food, a home, a car, and college fees. If my parents decided not to have children, they would so much more money and time for themselves. It seems like having a child is just a burden on them. Furthermore, most kids don't appreciate the effort it takes to raise a child, and take their parents for granted. I know that I have taken my parents for granted many times. So why would anyone want to have a child?
Sadly, today many people believe in abortions, which I find very troubling. In the Bible, having a child was considered a blessing. In Genesis 17, Abraham is conversing with God, and God says that He will bless Sarah and give her a child. Whenever people could not have children in the Bible, people would look down on them, because they believe that God did not have favor on them. Honestly, having a child and raising a child is not easy. I don't know where mothers and fathers can find the strength to raise them, except through love.
The only way to raise a child I believe is to love them. If a parent does not love their child, then they will not raise them correctly. Everyone needs to love; especially children. If you want to see an example of a great parent in the Bible, look at God. God is the heavenly Father, and He showed through His sacrifice how much He loves His children. He knew that like any young child we can't do anything to help God, and that we desperately need someone to care for us. Just like a baby would die without a parent to love them, we would die without a Savior to love us. God doesn't expect us to be able to save ourselves, He just wants us to accept His love for us.
-Smart
-John 1:12
The older I become, the more I appreciate the impact my parents made and continue to make in my life. Even though I am in college and am an "adult", I still need my parents everyday. I don't have a job, so I have to rely on my parents for money. Money isn't the only thing my parents helped me with though. My parents have done so much for me that there is no way I could repay them fully. My parents know this, but they chose to love me and raise me anyway.
Let's start from the beginning of my life. When I was born, my mother had to grow through incredible pain just to give birth to me. She also gave birth to my two brothers, so she had to give birth to three babies. My parents then had to carry me, change my diaper, wake up in the middle of the night when I cried, feed me, bathe me, etc. What did I do to help my parents at this time? Nothing. I was a baby, so I couldn't do anything to help my parents with anything at all. All I did was cry, eat, and sleep.
As I got older, my parents had to teach me many things, like how to speak, read, and write. They also had to teach me what is right and what is wrong. Whenever I did something bad and they found out, they had to discipline me. Without them I would have the same view on what is right and wrong today. Also, they had to pay for my school for field trips, various school fees, and church trips. By this time, I could sort of take care of myself, so my parents didn't have to watch me all the time, but I still needed them.
Today I still need my parents for food, a home, a car, and college fees. If my parents decided not to have children, they would so much more money and time for themselves. It seems like having a child is just a burden on them. Furthermore, most kids don't appreciate the effort it takes to raise a child, and take their parents for granted. I know that I have taken my parents for granted many times. So why would anyone want to have a child?
Sadly, today many people believe in abortions, which I find very troubling. In the Bible, having a child was considered a blessing. In Genesis 17, Abraham is conversing with God, and God says that He will bless Sarah and give her a child. Whenever people could not have children in the Bible, people would look down on them, because they believe that God did not have favor on them. Honestly, having a child and raising a child is not easy. I don't know where mothers and fathers can find the strength to raise them, except through love.
The only way to raise a child I believe is to love them. If a parent does not love their child, then they will not raise them correctly. Everyone needs to love; especially children. If you want to see an example of a great parent in the Bible, look at God. God is the heavenly Father, and He showed through His sacrifice how much He loves His children. He knew that like any young child we can't do anything to help God, and that we desperately need someone to care for us. Just like a baby would die without a parent to love them, we would die without a Savior to love us. God doesn't expect us to be able to save ourselves, He just wants us to accept His love for us.
-Smart
Bread
"Jesus said to them, 'I am the bread of life; he who comes to me will not hunger, and he who believes in me will never thirst.'"
-John 6: 35
My bible teacher and I have been studying the book of John, and we just had a bible study on John chapter six. In the beginning of the passage, a crowd is following Jesus because of His miracles. When they arrive at the other end of the sea, Jesus decides to feed the crowd. Jesus feeds more than five thousand people with only a couple loaves of bread and a few fish. This is an amazing miracle, but my bible teacher asked me this question and it stuck with me; why did Jesus feed them?
After feeding the crowd, Jesus and His disciples cross the sea again. The crowd realizes that He is no longer with them, so they go out and search for Him. They eventually find Jesus and His disciples, and they question why He went away. Jesus then talks about bread for a while, which begins to confuse the crowd. They ask Him for a sign to prove Himself to the crowd, reminding Jesus that Moses gave the Israelite people manna as a sign. While Jesus fed about five thousand people one time, Moses fed an entire nation for 40 years. The people must have been disappointed in Jesus by this point, especially since what He was saying did not seem to make sense.
Jesus then talks to the crowd about the bread of life. He claims that He Himself is the bread of life which the Father is giving to anyone who receives it. Anyone that goes to Jesus will never hunger or thirst. Bread is used throughout the Bible as an analogy for food that is required to have life. The Israelites ate manna in order to survive physically, but Jesus reminds the people that the Israelites perished. Jesus said that He is the bread that leads to eternal life, and without Him we will perish.
It is interesting that the crowd brings up the manna that the Israelites ate, because it allows Jesus to use it as a metaphor. Manna would fall down from heaven everyday, and the Israelites went and collected it to eat. Without the bread, they most certainly would have died. In order to get the manna, they had to go out, collect it, and eat it. In other words, they had to accept it. The manna was a gift from God for them to live, and all they had to do was accept it. Jesus is telling us that we must accept Him. Jesus gave us His body as a gift, and all we have to do is accept it. His body leads not only to physical life, but life eternal. Without Jesus, we do not have life. People often view eternal life as being far away and only after our physical lives. Think about this though; people do not eat bread so that they can live sometime in the future, but so they can live now. We do not accept Jesus so that we can eventually have eternal life, but so that we can experience that life now.
-Smart
-John 6: 35
My bible teacher and I have been studying the book of John, and we just had a bible study on John chapter six. In the beginning of the passage, a crowd is following Jesus because of His miracles. When they arrive at the other end of the sea, Jesus decides to feed the crowd. Jesus feeds more than five thousand people with only a couple loaves of bread and a few fish. This is an amazing miracle, but my bible teacher asked me this question and it stuck with me; why did Jesus feed them?
After feeding the crowd, Jesus and His disciples cross the sea again. The crowd realizes that He is no longer with them, so they go out and search for Him. They eventually find Jesus and His disciples, and they question why He went away. Jesus then talks about bread for a while, which begins to confuse the crowd. They ask Him for a sign to prove Himself to the crowd, reminding Jesus that Moses gave the Israelite people manna as a sign. While Jesus fed about five thousand people one time, Moses fed an entire nation for 40 years. The people must have been disappointed in Jesus by this point, especially since what He was saying did not seem to make sense.
Jesus then talks to the crowd about the bread of life. He claims that He Himself is the bread of life which the Father is giving to anyone who receives it. Anyone that goes to Jesus will never hunger or thirst. Bread is used throughout the Bible as an analogy for food that is required to have life. The Israelites ate manna in order to survive physically, but Jesus reminds the people that the Israelites perished. Jesus said that He is the bread that leads to eternal life, and without Him we will perish.
It is interesting that the crowd brings up the manna that the Israelites ate, because it allows Jesus to use it as a metaphor. Manna would fall down from heaven everyday, and the Israelites went and collected it to eat. Without the bread, they most certainly would have died. In order to get the manna, they had to go out, collect it, and eat it. In other words, they had to accept it. The manna was a gift from God for them to live, and all they had to do was accept it. Jesus is telling us that we must accept Him. Jesus gave us His body as a gift, and all we have to do is accept it. His body leads not only to physical life, but life eternal. Without Jesus, we do not have life. People often view eternal life as being far away and only after our physical lives. Think about this though; people do not eat bread so that they can live sometime in the future, but so they can live now. We do not accept Jesus so that we can eventually have eternal life, but so that we can experience that life now.
-Smart
Why Save Us?
"For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."
-Luke 19:10
Earlier today my friend wanted to talk to me to tell me a story. The story was very short, but it made me think about something. My friend was hanging around campus, when a stranger came up to her to talk to her. The stranger asked my friend what she though about God, but my friend is an atheist. After figuring this out, the stranger told her that she should follow God. The interesting part of story is what the stranger said as the reason my friend should meet God. The stranger said that she should follow God because He is lonely.
I found the story quite funny at first, but then I thought about what the stranger said to my friend; God is lonely. While to some this might make sense, seeing as there are less and less people committing to Christianity, I don't believe it is true. The whole idea of God contradicts the theory that He is lonely. God is self-sufficient and doesn't need anybody. Why would God need people if He created them, and if God could create anything He wanted to satisfy Himself? Also, God has angels that worship Him in heaven. God doesn't need anything to satisfy Himself because He is His own satisfaction.
So why do I care so much that God is not lonely? The answer is I don't. What I do care about is the question of why God would make us. Why would a self-sufficient being create people that disown Him and refuse to acknowledge Him? God doesn't need us for anything, and He isn't lonely. So why make us? If people never existed, I don't think God would be any worse off. Think about this; God could have created an endless amount of different worlds. Just think about the massive amounts of creatures that exist on Earth; God created all of that. Why make people if God could theoretically could have made something better?
Furthermore, why save us? We turned against God and His commands and His will. We sinned against God and we willing did so, as I mentioned in my post on responsibility. So why did God send Jesus to come and save us, especially since it caused Jesus such great pain? Who would do that? Who would suffer and die for people that mock and disown them? I only know that Jesus did do that, and He did it for us. Jesus died to save the very same people that killed Him. Why?
I remember thinking about this question a while back, and today I was reminded of these questions I had. To be honest, I don't know why God would create us and save us. Here's one thing to keep in mind though- God knew we would betray Him. God knew that we would go against Him and abandon Him. He knew that if He created us He would have to save us. God knew that we would need Him, and that Jesus would have to suffer and die to save us. He knew all along. However, this knowledge did not deter Him from creating us. I don't know why He still chose to create us, but I do know that He loves us. He loves us enough that He sent His only son to die for us.
-Smart
-Luke 19:10
Earlier today my friend wanted to talk to me to tell me a story. The story was very short, but it made me think about something. My friend was hanging around campus, when a stranger came up to her to talk to her. The stranger asked my friend what she though about God, but my friend is an atheist. After figuring this out, the stranger told her that she should follow God. The interesting part of story is what the stranger said as the reason my friend should meet God. The stranger said that she should follow God because He is lonely.
I found the story quite funny at first, but then I thought about what the stranger said to my friend; God is lonely. While to some this might make sense, seeing as there are less and less people committing to Christianity, I don't believe it is true. The whole idea of God contradicts the theory that He is lonely. God is self-sufficient and doesn't need anybody. Why would God need people if He created them, and if God could create anything He wanted to satisfy Himself? Also, God has angels that worship Him in heaven. God doesn't need anything to satisfy Himself because He is His own satisfaction.
So why do I care so much that God is not lonely? The answer is I don't. What I do care about is the question of why God would make us. Why would a self-sufficient being create people that disown Him and refuse to acknowledge Him? God doesn't need us for anything, and He isn't lonely. So why make us? If people never existed, I don't think God would be any worse off. Think about this; God could have created an endless amount of different worlds. Just think about the massive amounts of creatures that exist on Earth; God created all of that. Why make people if God could theoretically could have made something better?
Furthermore, why save us? We turned against God and His commands and His will. We sinned against God and we willing did so, as I mentioned in my post on responsibility. So why did God send Jesus to come and save us, especially since it caused Jesus such great pain? Who would do that? Who would suffer and die for people that mock and disown them? I only know that Jesus did do that, and He did it for us. Jesus died to save the very same people that killed Him. Why?
I remember thinking about this question a while back, and today I was reminded of these questions I had. To be honest, I don't know why God would create us and save us. Here's one thing to keep in mind though- God knew we would betray Him. God knew that we would go against Him and abandon Him. He knew that if He created us He would have to save us. God knew that we would need Him, and that Jesus would have to suffer and die to save us. He knew all along. However, this knowledge did not deter Him from creating us. I don't know why He still chose to create us, but I do know that He loves us. He loves us enough that He sent His only son to die for us.
-Smart
Music (2)
"I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have my being."
-Psalm 104:33
Last post I talked about music and how it is able to influence the way we feel. I only talked briefly at the end that we should use music to praise God, and today I wanted to expand on that. I also shared some of experiences I had with worship before in my blog, but I never really talked about using music to praise and glorify God. Today I want to talk about praising God using music.
Music is used as a way to praise God in churches. In the church I attend we sing many songs in one worship service, and in almost every event we have we will sing at least one song. Why do we do this? There are many different reasons churches use songs in their services, but I think people are starting to just see it as a tradition. I wrote earlier about being complacent and how that can make us be too comfortable with where we are. Music and praise are two things that can become commonplace and make us complacent in praising God.
If we took a moment and really thought about who God is, we should realize that He is everything. He is love, compassion, grace, mercy, powerful, awesome, true, life; He is everything. The Bible is full of places where people give praise to God, especially in the Psalms. Nobody praises someone that is weak, cruel, merciless, or unworthy. People praise those who deserve to be praised, and no one deserves more praise than the one who created us all. While God does not need our praise, He deserves all of it.
Music is a great way to praise God because it has a way of setting our hearts right. While a Sunday message or prayer can be powerful, there's something about music that makes it even more powerful. However, even music can be half-hearted and fake. Don't let that happen when you sing praise to God. Remember who God is, and use music to increase your reverence for Him. Focus on the message and content of the song, and especially remember who it is you are singing to. God is not glorified when the music sounds good, but when our hearts praise and glorify Him. I myself am guilty of seeing music as a trivial thing rather than a way to glorify God. I hope that we all can learn to praise God with our heart, soul, and mind.
-Smart
-Psalm 104:33
Last post I talked about music and how it is able to influence the way we feel. I only talked briefly at the end that we should use music to praise God, and today I wanted to expand on that. I also shared some of experiences I had with worship before in my blog, but I never really talked about using music to praise and glorify God. Today I want to talk about praising God using music.
Music is used as a way to praise God in churches. In the church I attend we sing many songs in one worship service, and in almost every event we have we will sing at least one song. Why do we do this? There are many different reasons churches use songs in their services, but I think people are starting to just see it as a tradition. I wrote earlier about being complacent and how that can make us be too comfortable with where we are. Music and praise are two things that can become commonplace and make us complacent in praising God.
If we took a moment and really thought about who God is, we should realize that He is everything. He is love, compassion, grace, mercy, powerful, awesome, true, life; He is everything. The Bible is full of places where people give praise to God, especially in the Psalms. Nobody praises someone that is weak, cruel, merciless, or unworthy. People praise those who deserve to be praised, and no one deserves more praise than the one who created us all. While God does not need our praise, He deserves all of it.
Music is a great way to praise God because it has a way of setting our hearts right. While a Sunday message or prayer can be powerful, there's something about music that makes it even more powerful. However, even music can be half-hearted and fake. Don't let that happen when you sing praise to God. Remember who God is, and use music to increase your reverence for Him. Focus on the message and content of the song, and especially remember who it is you are singing to. God is not glorified when the music sounds good, but when our hearts praise and glorify Him. I myself am guilty of seeing music as a trivial thing rather than a way to glorify God. I hope that we all can learn to praise God with our heart, soul, and mind.
-Smart
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